Election day jitters? Not for these candidates

Saturday

Jun 7, 2014 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County Auditor-Controller Jerome "Jay" Wilverding's name was on Tuesday's ballot, but he spent the day at the office instead of trying to spur voters to the polls to cast their ballots.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County Auditor-Controller Jerome "Jay" Wilverding's name was on Tuesday's ballot, but he spent the day at the office instead of trying to spur voters to the polls to cast their ballots.

At the end of the workday, he had time to work out, change clothes and then wait for election results at a campaign party for a different office.

That's because there was nobody else's name on the ballot next to his. About 500 people wrote in somebody else's name, but Wilverding ended the day with 98.7 percent of the counted vote.

Like the treasurer-tax collector and the assessor-clerk-recorder, the auditor-controller position rarely draws an election challenge. Together, the three offices handle billions of taxpayer dollars, keep official records and generally keep the business of government moving.

No challenges came this year for any of the three offices, meaning the current occupants will remain.

Wilverding's position is unique, because this was the first time he had to go before voters since he was appointed to the position by the Board of Supervisors last year. His version of a tense election day came in March, when the filing deadline for prospective candidates approached.

"I think I breathed a sigh of relief around 4:58 on that Friday," he said.

He had been campaigning, though, introducing both himself and the obscure, yet important, department he heads. "We're king of the hub where all this $1.3 billion goes through," he said, referring to the county's annual budget.

In the term to come, Wilverding said he plans to continue building back the department's auditing division, which was slashed during budget cuts in recent years, he said. "That's important."

The office has been handling audits mandated by law, but it hasn't done a formal discretionary audit within the county government since the latter part of the past decade, he said.

Wilverding replaced the retired Adrian Van Houten, who hadn't faced a challenger since he was elected to office in 1990.

First appointed in 2001, Treasurer-Tax Collector Shabbir Khan has yet to face a challenger at the polls.

"These positions are very technical jobs, and you have to be qualified," he said. "I think I've done a good job."

Though his office is best known for its tax-collecting role, he said its handling of the county's $2 billion investment portfolio is the position's most important responsibility. Right now, those investments bring in about $4 million to $5 million in annual revenue, but in good years, that revenue has topped $60 million, he said.

Together with the Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office, the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk's Office values properties, chronicles them and taxes them to bring in the revenue used by the county and other government agencies.

The Board of Supervisors appointed Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk Ken Blakemore in 2009. He was rehired in an unchallenged election in 2010 before this year's election. There hasn't been a competitive race for this seat since 1970.

"It's always tough to beat an incumbent," Blakemore said, but it's more than that.

He said he's carried on with a solid model inherited from his predecessor. That model includes ensuring assessed values of properties will be fair and equitable, politics will be kept out of official functions of the office and the staff provides quality service, he said.

"It's a good model."

Contact reporter Zachary K. Johnson at (209) 546-8258 or zjohnson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/johnsonblog and on Twitter @zacharykjohnson.